On November 18, InvestaX hosted a live panel on X Spaces titled “The Rise of Stablecoins: RWA, Regulations, and The New Dollar Order”. The session brought together industry experts to discuss how stablecoins are evolving into financial infrastructure, and what this means for regulated tokenized assets.

The discussion featured:

• Alice Chen, Co-founder & General Counsel, InvestaX – a MAS-regulated platform for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).
  
• Hagen Rooke, Partner, Gibson Dunn – a leading global law firm advising digital asset players on cross-border regulation and fintech law.
  
• Samson Leo, CLO and Co-founder, StraitsX – issuer of XSGD and XUSD stablecoins, recognized by MAS under Singapore’s stablecoin framework.
  
• Hassan Ahmed, Regional Director (SE Asia), Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) – one of the largest global digital asset platforms, licensed by MAS and active across institutional and retail segments.
  
• Julian Kwan, Co-founder & CEO, IXS – a DARE-regulated platform for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and Bitcoin yield.

Key Takeaways

• Stablecoin adoption is growing rapidly, with market cap surpassing $303B as of November 2025 (DeFiLlama). This is projected to grow to $2T by 2028.
• Asia-Pacific leads institutional adoption, with 50% of institutions across the region already integrating stablecoins in some capacity (Circle Forum, 2025), driven by tech-forward regulation and high digital fluency.
• Clearer regulatory frameworks - from the GENIUS Act (U.S.) to MiCA (EU) and PSA (Singapore) - are building institutional confidence by defining standards for reserve backing, redemption rights, and cross-border operability.
• Stablecoins and tokenized assets are converging, creating integrated infrastructure for compliant digital finance. On licensed RWA platforms like InvestaX, stablecoins serve as programmable cash for purchasing, holding, and trading tokenized assets.
• Legal fragmentation across jurisdictions remains a challenge, particularly around reserve attestation, cross-border transfers, and product recognition.‍
• Stablecoin proliferation is creating innovation and risk, with new players entering and existing firms exploring white-labeled or branded stablecoins.

Watch the recording below or read the key takeaways in the following article.

Why Are Stablecoins Gaining Traction Across Financial Markets?

According to the panelists, the adoption of stablecoins is driven by three main factors: clearer regulation, deeper institutional familiarity, and more real-world use cases.

Hagen Rooke pointed out that enabling frameworks like the GENIUS Act, MiCA, and MAS’s stablecoin guidelines have made it easier for issuers to operate in key markets. This legal clarity has helped shift stablecoins from being speculative tools to becoming trusted financial products.

Samson Leo added that the conversation has moved from early adoption to mainstream operational integration, where accountants, auditors, and finance teams now understand stablecoins as digital cash equivalents. Meanwhile, technologies like agentic payments are pushing the frontier even further.

Why Are Singapore and Hong Kong Emerging as Global Stablecoin Hubs?

Panelists agreed that Asia’s open mindset, digital readiness, and strong trading roots are accelerating adoption.

Samson Leo noted that Southeast Asia’s smartphone penetration and openness to new technologies provide fertile ground for blockchain-based finance. Hassan Ahmed added that Asia has always played a key role in crypto market formation, from early trading on platforms like BitMEX to emerging B2B use cases such as cross-border payroll, supplier payments, and FX settlements.

How Are Stablecoins Powering Real-World Asset Tokenization?

At IXS, stablecoins are central to how users transact with tokenized real-world assets. As Julian Kwan explained, IXS is a fiat-less platform, meaning RWA tokens are purchased, settled, and traded entirely in stablecoins. This design choice was made early on to ensure public chain compatibility and programmatic efficiency.

Julian shared that stablecoins also serve as a foundation for liquidity pools and decentralized finance (DeFi) lending involving tokenized RWAs. For example, stablecoins paired with equity tokens can now be used as collateral across DeFi protocols, expanding the functionality of real-world financial instruments.

Alice Chen summed it up:

“Tokenized assets and stablecoins are two sides of the same coin. One represents value. The other moves it.”

Does Stablecoin Growth Reinforce U.S. Dollar Dominance?

The panel recognized that the current growth of stablecoins, most of which are USD-denominated, may further entrench U.S. dollar dominance globally.

Hagen Rooke observed that frameworks like the GENIUS Act are designed to anchor stablecoin issuance to U.S. Treasuries, which further links on-chain financial infrastructure to U.S. monetary assets. This dynamic aligns with recent analysis by a16zcrypto, which reported that 99% of stablecoin supply is dominated in USD (State of Crypto 2025). In parallel, an article published in the IMF’s F&D magazine (September 2025) observed that dollar-backed stablecoins may be strengthening USD dominance, even as demand for physical U.S. Treasuries fluctuates globally.

But that’s only part of the story. Panelists also highlighted a regional countercurrent: the rise of local stablecoins designed to reduce foreign exchange friction and better serve domestic payment needs.

Hagen Rooke emphasized that while USD-based stablecoins may continue to dominate globally, jurisdictions like Singapore and Indonesia see strong use cases for stablecoins denominated in their own currencies. These local versions can help integrate blockchain payments into domestic commerce more smoothly by aligning with existing accounting, taxation, and legal norms.

At the same time, the panel noted that local frameworks in Singapore and Hong Kong are evolving to support these use cases. While development may be slower in some emerging markets, the long-term trend appears to be a multi-currrency stablecoin landscape, with both dominant global issuers and targeted domestic solutions coexisting.

How Are Legal Frameworks for Stablecoins Evolving?

Samson Leo outlined how global stablecoin regulations generally converge on 1:1 reserve backing and third-party attestation, but diverge when it comes to treatment of foreign issuers.

• The EU’s MiCA requires issuers to localize operations and reserves.
• The U.S. and Hong Kong frameworks allow foreign recognition with comparable oversight.
• Singapore adopts a voluntary regime, letting issuers apply for regulatory recognition via MAS.

Samson cautioned that if countries require local versions of the same stablecoin, it risks confusing users and fragmenting the market, especially for cross-border payments.

Are There Too Many Stablecoins?

Panelists saw value in competition but also warned about fragmentation.

Hagen noted that players from every corner, legacy firms like PayPal, Web3-native projects, and fintechs are issuing or exploring stablecoins. This creates innovation pressure but also challenges around interoperability.

Julian shared that the economics are clear: anyone with a large wallet base might see incentives to launch a branded stablecoin. However, network effects make it difficult to displace incumbents like USDC and USDT, except through white-labeled models or niche localization.

What’s Next for Stablecoins?

At the cutting edge: agentic payments, where AI-powered agents trigger and settle payments using stablecoins on-chain.

Samson shared how StraitsX is integrating with Coinbase’s Base chain and the x402 protocol, a new machine-readable payment standard developed by Coinbase engineers. This allows AI assistants to initiate bookings, manage wallets, and interact with dApps seamlessly, turning stablecoins into programmable money for machines.

Meanwhile, Coinbase is expanding access to token launches, introducing new pathways for early access using USDC. Hassan explained that the goal is to bring better transparency and user inclusion into early-stage token markets, backed by regulatory controls and access design.

Final Predictions from the Panel

• Hagen Rooke: Stablecoins will become the default settlement rail for capital markets, with institutions using them for treasury and liquidity management.
  
• Julian Kwan: Real-world asset tokenization will scale alongside stablecoins, as platforms like IXS create new yield-bearing instruments for on-chain investors.
  
• Alice Chen: Announced that Franklin Templeton’s Benji tokenized fund will be launching on InvestaX in the coming week.

FAQ

Q: What’s the GENIUS Act?

A U.S. legislative framework to regulate stablecoin issuance, requiring 1:1 reserve backing and promoting the use of U.S. Treasuries to support on-chain dollars.

Q: What stablecoins are regulated in Singapore?

Stablecoins like XSGD and XUSD are recognized under the MAS framework, which includes voluntary attestation, safeguarding, and reserve requirements.

Q: How are stablecoins used on InvestaX?

On InvestaX, stablecoins are the primary settlement layer. Users can use stablecoins to purchase tokenized RWAs, and yields are generated via regulated structures, not at the currency level.

‍